Setting goals

Sugar fasts, intermittent fasting and 4 Minute Workout

Since the first anniversary of my weight-loss journey, I have added new health goals for the following year. 

If you have read any of the articles pertaining to the first year of my weight-loss, you know that the focus of that year was on reaching my weight-loss goals for each week. Upon reaching those goals, I would reset my goals until I had lost 40 pounds. This weight-loss was achieved without really changing any foods that I was used to eating, including fast food and soft drinks.

Not daring to abandon the course that had proved successful in reaching these goals, I stayed on the "tracking calories track," and added a new goal...clean eating. I started eating organic dairy and meat and reduced fast food to once or twice a month and soft drinks to a few times a year.

The next year I added another mile to my walks, bringing my weekly walking to 20 miles. I also added more organic food and pretty much eliminated any sweets that I didn't make myself, reducing the amount of sugar that went into them.

The next year, I studied the plant-based diets and decided to try an 80/20 plan: 80 percent plant-based and 20 percent meat and dairy. I liked this plan and decided to stay with it. I also added three sugar fasts that year: a 30-day sugar fast, a 10-day and a 7-day. 

When I set my health goals last year, I decided to expand my sugar fasts to five for the year: two 30-day sugar fasts and three 15-day fasts. 

Around the end of 2017, I had read an article about intermittent fasting and decided to incorporate it with my sugar fasts. For the first five days of my first 30-day sugar fast in 2018, I included intermittent fasting. I continued to add intermittent fasting for 3-5 days at a time for the rest of the 30-day sugar fast. I added the intermittent fasting primarily for the health benefits, since I was already maintaining my weight-loss. And since weight can fluctuate a pound or two, especially after celebrations, I knew the sugar fast would easily take off a pound or two. I completed all the sugar fasts I had planned for 2018, and included intermittent fasting in all but the last one. I really like intermittent fasting and may be writing more about it at a later time.

Last fall, I read about a set of exercises that could be done in 4-minute segments three times a day. Called the 4 Minute Workout, the concept of the exercise is promoting muscle growth through the body's use of nitric oxide. At first, I was dubious of some of the claims for these exercises, but after trying them a few times a week, I did begin seeing some results. Since there has to be at least a two- hour break between each set of exercises, it can be tricky to remember to do the next set.

When I set my goals for 2019, I decided to continued the sugar fasts and intermittent fasting, according to the same schedule I followed in 2018, and to add the 4 Minute Workout. My goal is to do three sets a day and gradually increase the reps in each set. Today, I remembered to do all three sets. Yay! Watch the video for the correct form for the exercises and more information about the health benefits from them. 

~~~B~~~

  

Reviewing my sugar fasts and intermittent fasting

As I sat down to summarize my five sugar fasts during 2018, it seemed as though it's been months, rather than six weeks since I finished the last sugar fast. Maybe it's because I've done a lot of baking during the holidays and consumed more sweets than usual, but I'm looking forward to my next sugar fast which is scheduled in a little more than a week. My first sugar fast for this year will be for 30 days.

When I started my first 30-day sugar fast in January 2018, I decided to add several days of intermittent fasting, using the 16/8 eating pattern, which means fasting for 16 hours and eating all meals within an eight-hour period. After reading about the health benefits of intermittent fasting, I decided to try it with sugar fasting.

In addition to the two fasts, I also reduced my daily calorie allowance by 500 calories per day to allow for a one-pound weigh-loss per week. By removing all added sugar from my diet, the daily reduction of 500 calories was more or less a wash, since most desserts and sugar treats amount to as many calories. My scales were showing a weight gain of 3-5 pounds from the Christmas holidays, and I wanted to take those extra pounds off during the fasts.

During the first week of my first 30-day fast, I did the intermittent fasting for five days. The second week, I added three days of intermittent fasting to the sugar fast and continued that pattern for the duration of the sugar fast. I had read that in addition to the health benefits of intermittent fasting, there was also the benefit of a modest weight-loss. At the end of the 30-days, I had lost six pounds. I wasn't sure if the intermittent fasting had contributed to the weight-loss, because I usually lose a few pounds during a sugar fast.